Coating apparatus



March 24, 1953 F. s. ELKINS 2,632,422

COATING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 30, 1950 INVENTOR. J. EZ/Y/A J' T M .AGENI Patented Mar. 24, 1953 2,632,422 COATING APPARATUS Frank S. Elkins, Passaic, N. J assignor to United States Rubber Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application November 30, 1950, Serial No. 198,310

1 Claim.

This invention relates to apparatus for apply ing a coating composition to continuous lengths of sheet materials, and more particularly it relates to a new and improved coating blade structure.

One object of the invention is to provide a coating blade for coating paper, cloth, and the like, that can be cleaned conveniently without dismantling the coating apparatus.

Another object is the provision of a coating applicator assembly that can be adapted readily to use with coating compositions of various characteristics or to application of coatings of various thicknesses.

Still another object is the provision of a coating apparatus that requires relatively little labor or lost time for periodic servicing in the course of operation of the apparatus.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the invention will be made evident in the following detailed description, which is intended to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein Fig. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of an apparatus for coating continuous lengths of cloth and the like, showing the improved coating applicator of the present invention in operative position;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of portions of the apparatus of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a modification of the improved applicator.

The invention provides an improved coating blade which takes the form of a slotted tube that is slidably mounted on a mounting plate which passes through the slot in the tube, in frictional engagement with the edges of the slot, into the interior of the tube. The exterior surface of the slotted tube serves as the bearing or coating surface during the coating operation.

Referring to Fig. 1, the coating apparatus shown therein is represented as applying to a continuous length iii of sheet material, such as cloth or the like, a coating II. fed continuously upwardly from a supply roll l2 and passes generally horizontally over the upper surfaces of two spaced transverse idler rollers i3, it supported at their ends in suitable bearings l5, [6 attached to vertical legs I! and I8 of a side frame member l9, one of such frame members I9 being disposed at each side of the machine.

An applicator assembly 20 is arranged to bear against the upper surface of the cloth ID or like material between the two idler rollers l3, M.

The cloth I is The applicator assembly includes a body plate 21 that runs transversely of the coating applicator. The body plate has fixed on one of its faces a shaft 22 which projects outwardly from each end of the body plate and extends rotatably at each of its ends, into a bearing block 23 mounted slidably for vertical movement between the legs I! and it of the side frame IS.

The bearing block may be adjusted vertically to position the applicator assembly at the desired horizontal level by turning a hand wheel 24 on a horizontal shaft 25 that is rotatably supported at each side of the apparatus in a bearing member 26 extending upwardly from an upper transverse section 2! of the end frame IS. A bevel gear 28 fixed to the horizontal adjusting shaft engages a bevel gear 30 on the upper end of a vertical adjusting shaft 3| that extends downwardly through the transverse frame section 27, in rotatable engagement therewith, into the sliding bearing block 23. The lower section of the vertical adjusting shaft passes screw-threadedly through a vertical hole provided in the block 23 in such manner that r0- tation of the shaft causes the block to be raised or lowered. A collar 32 fixed to the vertical shaft at the underside of the transverse frame section 2'! maintains the shaft in place. It will be understood that the adjusting means de scribed is duplicated at each side of the machine, each of the adjusting assemblies being operated as a unit through the medium of the horizontal adjusting shaft 25.

The opposite face of the body plate 2| of the applicator assembly has a relatively thin flat mounting plate member 33 securely attached thereto by means of spaced screws 34 which pass through the mounting plate into the body plate. The lower edge of the mounting plate 33 carries a coating tube 35 which has a longitudinal slot 33 through its upper surface of such width that the mounting plate 33 passes slidably therethrough into the interior of the tube. There is sumcient frictional resistance between the edges of the slot and the faces of the mounting plate to maintain the tube in position on the plate. When the tube 35 is inoperative position the lower edge 31 of the plate 33 engages the lower inner surface 38 of the tube.

At either end of the tube 35 there is provided a vertical barrier plate 39 which extends outwardly from the front surface of the applicator assembly and which is secured to a bracket 40 slidably adjustable along the length of the applicator assembly by means of a nut and bolt 3 4| passing through the bracket and through an elongated slot 42 extending lengthwise across the body plate 2|. The barrier plate is vertically adjustable by means of a nut and bolt 43 passing through the barrier plate and through a slot 44 in the bracket 40. By this means the barrier plates may be adjustably positioned as de sired along the length of the applicator assembly and may be raised or lowered to position the lower edge of the plates at the marginal surfaces of the cloth l0, thereby serving to maintain a body 45 of coating liquid, supplied from a suitable source (not shown) in place on the cloth H1 in engagement with, the coating tube.

As indicated in Fig. 1, when the applicator assembly is in operative position, the assembly is usually inclined with respect to. the cloth Hi. The angle of the applicator assembly may be adjusted about the shaft 22 as a pivot point to vary the thickness of the coating by means of a horizontal adjusting screw 45 which is threaded through a bracket ll. on the, leg I8 of the side frame. The end of the adjusting screw 45 engages the rear face of the body plate 2.2, and by threading the screw 66 inwardly or outwardl the angle of the assembly may be varied.

After passing from the applicator assembly, the cloth 10 containing the coating I! may pass into an oven 48 in which the coating is dried, or otherwise heat-treated, depending on the nature of the coating, after which the coated cloth may pass to a suitable wind-up (not shown) The operation of the foregoing apparatus is.

zontal adjusting wheel 24, while the angle of the assembly may be fixed by adjusting the screw 46. The 010th 10 or other material to be coated is passed through the apparatus, and a supply of the coating composition is introduced to the surface of the cloth before the applicator assembly to form a body 45 of the coating composition. As the cloth passes underneath the coating tube in engagement with the outer surface of the tube and in pressurized. contact therewith, a thin continuous coating H is applied evenly over the surface of the cloth.

Various sizes of slotted coating; tubes, disposed at various angles, may be employed to give coatings of the desired characteristics. In the modi fication shown in Fig. 3, a somewhat larger tube 50 is employed than that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, andthe tube is shown operating with the mounting .plate 5! in a vertical position. The angle of the applicator to the advancing cloth affects the characteristics of the coating. For example, as the angle of the applicator approaches 90 as shown in Fig. 3, the pressure on, and the tension of thecloth, or other material being coated, increases, and the thickness of the app-lied coating diminishes. When the applicator is at an acute angle to the advancing cloth the coating will generally be thicker than when the applicator is at anobtuse angle, as indicated inFig. 1.

The external diameter of the slotted tube also affects the characteristics of the coating. In

general, tubes of large diameter give a thicker coating than tubes of small diameter.

The coating tube may be made of various materials. Stainless steel, copper and brass are especially suitable.

It will be noted that the sheet material i8 being coated contacts the slotted tube at a point 52 on its outer surface which is not diametrically opposed to the slot, but is located to one side of the surface 53 diametrically opposed to the slot, in the direction of approach of the material. This is because the forward movement of the sheet material tends to displace the tube slightly in the direction of travel of the material so that the edge 54 of the tube slot engaging the rearface of the mounting plate is raised slightly higher than the edge 55 engaging the front face of the mounting plate. Therefore, if the tube is mounted in a reversed position, a different portion thereof becomes the principal wearing surface. This is advantageous since the wear on the tube surface may be distributed over a greater. area than would be possible if the sheet material contacted the tube at a point diametrically opposed to the slot, which point would. be the principal, wearing surface regardless of which Way the tube was mounted on the mounting plate. The foregoing advantage isv realized both when the applicator assembly is operated in a vertical position as in Fig, 3, or at an angle to. the vertical, as in Fig. 1.

In the course of the coating operation it is occasionally necessary to clean the coating surface, which tends to become fouled with excess coating material producing an uneven or striated coating. With the present apparatus cleaning is easily accomplished by a single operator by turning the applicator assembly upwardly out of operative position, whereupon the operator can easily slip the slotted tube constituting the applicator surface off the mounting plate by hand, clean it, and replace it again by hand, all Without dismantling parts of the apparatus. This convenience is largely a consequence of the fact that the slotted tube requires no bolts or other mechanical connection tothe, remainder of the applicator assembly, but maybe maintained in place by simply frictional engagement with the mounting plate, as described.

The slotted coating tube is. readily adaptable to use with conventional coating apparatus, since the tube may be easily insertedv over a regular knife coating blade.

Since the slotted tubes are light in weight and inexpensive to fabricate, a variety of such tubes A coating apparatus comprising a pair of spaced.

vertical supports, means for advancing a material to be coated between said'supports in agenerally horizontal direction, a mounting plate supported between said vertical. supports above the advancing material and transversely to the path of the advancing material, a coating blade that is a hollow tube having a longitudinal slot in. its upper wall, saidblade being detachably mounted at the ratus that the, lower exterior surface of the tube 10 Number bears on the material passing through the coating apparatus so as to thereby permit continuous application of a surface coating to the material.

FRANK S. ELKINS.

5 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date 1,944,835 Boyers Jan. 23, 1934 2,334,102 Kauppi Nov. 9, 1943 

